VIEWING ENTERPRISES AS SYSTEMS-OF-SYSTEMS (SOS): IMPLICATIONS FOR SOS RESEARCH

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Madni, Azad M. | Moini, Assad

Affiliations: Intelligent Systems Technology Inc., Santa Monica, CA, USA

Abstract: With modern enterprises continuing to grow in size and complexity, there is a pressing need to make their transformation, management and evolution more understandable and rigorous. In this paper, we argue that viewing enterprises as system-of-systems (SoS) can potentially provide a fresh perspective and unique insights into understanding organizational and operational issues surrounding modern enterprises. We claim that, both as a modeling construct and as a system abstraction, the notion of SoS is well-suited to studying, analyzing and characterizing the structural and behavioral aspects of modern enterprises. Motivated by the potential synergy between these two independent disciplines while recognizing the nascent state of the SoS body of knowledge, we propose a new research direction in applying systems thinking to understanding enterprises and, at the same time, improving the state-of-the-art in enterprise transformation, management, and evolution.

Keywords: enterprise, system theory, system-of-systems, complexity, autopoiesis, social network theory, complex adaptive systems, netcentricity

Journal: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 3-13, 2007